Teen skincare (welp, I am not a teen, but I guess I share their acne, oily prone skincare concerns!)

Excess oil and dead skin cells will create blocked pores, which will allow bacteria to grow and cause inflammation in those clogged pores, resulting in acne. It is a nasty cycle as all of those points can feed off each other and those who suffer from acne deal with most of those issues. You can have acne with dry skin as well, due to the lack of clarifying and removal of dead skin cells. Since these two products share similar ingredients and claims, I will focus on what is the same here and then once I get into each item, talk about its unique properties.

Its star ingredients are

Tea Treeis known for its topical antiseptic and anti-fungal properties and help target and treat blemish-prone skin. It also reduces oil and sebum production on your skin, while not disrupting the moisture level.

Algin(algae) is a water binding agent that will condition and hydrate your skin, while softening and detoxing. It is rich in essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, which will protect your skin from free radical damage. It also will help increase skin cell regeneration and elastin, as it contains alguronic acid.

** Ceramides are lipids (fats) which are important in helping to repair and protect your moisture barrier. They will keep your skin hydrated and plump as they retain water. Ceramides are found naturally in your body and you lose the ability to produce as you age, so adding them to skincare products helps with anti-aging ** only in the emulusion

Besides tea tree, these products also has some great ingredients for oil, blemish control and soothing healing benefits ~ such as comfrey ~ used since ancient times for healing wounds and other skin issues ~ calendula has one of the longest histories of usage of any herb in skin care and helps heal chapped and irritated skin. It stimulates wound and burn healing and gets much of its healing properties from its high levels of carotenoids (similar to Vitamin A). Mugwort has been used in traditional European herbal medicine to help heal skin wounds and contains a rich source of antioxidants.

Acetamide MEAwill attract moisture from the air and draw into your skin and along with humectants sodium hyaluronate and glycerin, will hydrate and keep your skin moist. Neem helps control oil and treat blemishes, as it is an anti-bacterial, anti-septic, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory product. It has been used for centuries in India as part of an herbal beauty routine ~ it contains emollients, controls acne and provides anti-aging properties due to its high concentration of antioxidants, keeping your skin healthy and soft. 4-terpineol helps cleanse and purify your skin and pores, and it comes from Australia Tea Tree oil without the irritation of pure tea tree oil.

Swanicoco help clinical trails over the course of 4 weeks with their A.C. Control Care Toner and Emulsion and 50% to 68% of their test subjects found that these products helped reduce blemishes, provide oil control and lessen greasy, oily skin. Based on the questions about the color, scent, viscosity, absorption, lack of irritation and overall satisfaction, the toner received between 59% and 73% positive answers, whereas the emulsion received 55% to 73% positive answers.

Their trials also found that blemishes, whiteheads and blackheads did not increase, while overall skin condition did not worsen. After 4 weeks, the trials found that sebum (oil) production had decreased by 23.11%